Last Day in New Orleans

Location: New Orleans, LA (High 61, Low 42)

We have been enjoying a nice relaxing weekend. Yesterday we went over to the City Park for a second time to do our run.

 

 

 

Other than that, it was a low-key day. Harry had a couple maintenance issues to take care of, and we did a little grocery shopping on our way back to the campground.

 

 

We have had a great time here in New Orleans. We loved the hustle and bustle of the city streets, and the great food. We finally got our first up-close view of the Mississippi River.

 

 

I think my favorite place, though, was the New Orleans City Park. What a great place! We will be going over there one more time this morning.

 

 

Tomorrow we head out for Scott, LA, which is very near to Lafayette. I didn’t plan it, but it’s nice that tomorrow is a holiday. Should make for quieter roads on our trip out of New Orleans. :)

A Run at City Park

Location: New Orleans, LA (High 59, Low 35)

One of the things I really wanted to do was find a nice place to do our runs while we are here. On Wednesday we went for a walk on the road the campground is on, hoping to be able to make our way to a path I had read about by Lake Ponchartrain. We didn’t end up figuring out a good way to get there, and the traffic along the road was pretty frequent, and the road had no sidewalks. Neither Harry nor I enjoy running on the road, as we have both heard too many reports of runners being struck by cars and hurt badly, or worse.

 

So last night I went back online to do some more research. I found what looked like a great option – New Orleans City Park, which appeared to be only a few miles away with free off-street parking.

 

We left the campground this morning, and followed Gretel the GPS through the city streets to discover a beautiful city park.

 

 

There are miles of trails, but we did the one which went around a lake called Big Lake.

 

 

 

The city skyline was visible off in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It sure was a great place to go for a morning run, and we definitely plan to go back while we are here in New Orleans.

Random Views of New Orleans

Location: New Orleans, LA (High 58, Low 45)

This morning we headed out a little before 10 to catch the campground shuttle into the city for a second day. Our plan today was to see the city from one of those “hop on, hop off” buses. We have mixed feelings about whether it was worth it. While we did get a nice overview of the city, and our guide was informative, we found out after a long wait for a bus pickup after we got off at one of the stops that there were only two buses running today. So we ended up riding the bus all the way back to the French Quarter without getting off again.

 

 

 

 

 

City Views…

 

 

 

 

 

…streetcar passing us…

 

 

 

 

 

…Harrah’s Casino…

 

 

 

Stopping for lunch at Mahony’s Po-Boy Shop…

 

 

 

 

 

…with a yummy dessert of bread pudding…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you see the beads?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, one last trip to Cafe du Monde for some beignets which we enjoyed while we relaxed in Jackson Square and listened to the music…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nice end to an enjoyable day… :)

A Year Today

Location: New Orleans, LA (High 53, Low 34)

 

It was one year ago today that we packed up and pulled out of our Catskill home base, headed for southern winter weather and sunshine.

 

I won’t do another one of those reminiscent posts as I already summed up our first year back in December, but we have been doing a little thinking back this morning, and some of those “one year ago right now we were…pulling out of our site, …etc.” sentences have made their way into our conversations. :) We are still enjoying our life on the road, and don’t see any changes coming up any time soon in our future, although we do occasionally discuss what might be next when we do get ready for something new. I know there are a lot of fulltime rv’ers who plan to travel ‘til they drop, but I don’t think we’re in that category. Who knows for sure…we’re still looking ahead and dreaming about all the possibilities there are out there. 

But out of the future and the past now…here in the present we’re enjoying a cooler and windier day in New Orleans. We are glad that we went into the city yesterday as it was much more pleasant for spending the day outside. Today is going to be a quieter day. I’ve been spending some time checking out some possible things to do at our next stop. In a little bit, we are going to find the grocery store and maybe take a walk by Lake Pontchartrain, which is only a few minutes away from the campground. Well, if we decide to brave that cold wind. :)

A Day in New Orleans

Location: New Orleans, LA (High 62, Low 43)

Today started off as a nice day right from the get go, as I came out from the bedroom to a beautiful view out our back window.

 

 

 

A little before 10 o’clock we went over to the office to purchase our tickets for the campground shuttle. At $6 apiece roundtrip, we were very happy to let the shuttle operator do the driving. (I got this picture when the shuttle came back to pick us up for the return trip.)

 

The French Quarter is a photographer’s delight. (Not that I’m really a photographer, but I had fun taking pictures of the different building styles anyway.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a good time exploring the shops in the French Quarter, and people watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had the chance to try something I’ve wanted to try for a long time – beignets! Yum.

 

 

 

(One thing we were surprised to find was that a lot of shops do not take plastic. Luckily we managed to make do with the bucks we normally carry for emergencies.)

 

 

After we walked around a bit more…

 

 

 

we decided it was time to try another New Orleans staple…the po boy…with some sweet potato fries.

 

 

 

 

We took the advice of the article I read about this place, and got our sandwich to go. Good thing it was big enough to split, since we only had enough “green stuff” for one. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the view from our spot…

 

 

 

 

After lunch we spent some more time exploring the French Quarter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a few hours of exploration, we were ready to head back to the campground, and boarded the shuttle at 4 pm for the return trip.

Rainy Day Trip to New Orleans

Location: New Orleans, LA (High 63, Low 46)

We knew when we planned to leave Robertsdale, AL today that we were going to have a rainy traveling day. We’d been watching the weather forecasts for a few days, and although it was going to be wet, it didn’t look like it was going to be really windy or have torrential downpours. So we decided to keep this as our moving day, so we would have tomorrow’s sunshine to get out and check out the city.

 

 

It wasn’t a great day for taking pictures, but I did manage to get a gray shot of Mobile, AL as we passed it….

 

 

…and a couple shots as we were entering our two new states for the day…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We crossed a really long bridge over Lake Pontchartrain, but it was SO foggy and pouring that I didn’t even bother trying to take a picture.

 

 

And then, wonder of wonders, as we came into the city, we saw a sliver of blue sky,

 

 

By the time we arrived at Pontchartrain Landing, the rain had stopped.

 

Although the skies were still gray, and there were puddles everywhere, we were very happy to be able to unhook and set up without being rained on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are excited to be here, and ready to do some exploring.

Worth the Wait

Location: Robertsdale, AL (High 65, Low 50)

We woke up today to a bright blue sky, and were very glad that we had put off our trip to the park this past Friday.

After cooking a nice breakfast of potatoes and eggs, we packed up and headed out on the 40 minute trip.

In doing research about Gulf State Park, I found that there is an area with several trails leading onto lake views. That was our original plan.

 

 

But our gps brought us to a beach access parking area. So we decided to hang out on the beach instead.

 

 

 

It was a sacrifice. NOT. :)

 

 

 

 

After checking out the beach, we went to do our run.

 

 

 

 

Then we grabbed our lunch from the truck, and enjoyed it while taking in the awesome view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time on our last day here in Robertsdale, AL.

 

 

Tomorrow we head to New Orleans, where we will be staying for the next week. We are both excited about that.